Prague Airport has said it is pursuing flights to Zagreb, Ljubljana and Sarajevo, with the three cities being among the Czech capital’s top unserved destinations within Europe. However, the airport’s business development team has singled out the Croatian capital of Zagreb as its most sought-after of the three. Services between the two cities were last maintained by Croatia Airlines and Czech Airlines in 2019 on a seasonal summer basis, however, following the outbreak of the coronavirus, neither of the two resumed operations between the capitals. The last scheduled flight on the route was operated by Croatia Airlines on October 26, 2019, while Czech Airlines ended operations on October 16. The Croatian carrier utilised a mix of Dash 8 and wet-leased CRJ1000 aircraft on the route, while Czech Airlines deployed its ATR72 turboprop. A total of 25.589 passengers flew between the two cities that year. Zagreb was Czech Airlines' first international destination, launched back in 1930.
Ljubljana Airport lost its connectivity to Prague following the collapse of Adria Airways in September 2019. The former Slovenian flag carrier maintained year-round flights between the two cities with a mix of CRJ700 and CRJ900 aircraft. It handled 10.229 passengers on the route in 2019, up until late September when the airline declared bankruptcy. On the other hand, Sarajevo last boasted flights to the Czech capital in May 2009, when the now-defunct B&H Airlines maintained the service up until October that year with its ATR72 turboprop. In 2016, Czech Airlines planned to introduce four weekly flights between the two cities with a mix of ATR42 and ATR72 aircraft but shelved the initiative months prior to the service launch.
Zagreb Airport recently introduced an incentive scheme for airlines with the aim of connecting the city to fifteen points in Europe. Among those included is Prague. Similarly, Sarajevo Airport issued a public call to airlines last month for the launch of new routes in return for subsidies. It listed 26 potential routes deemed to be of strategic importance, among which is the Czech capital. In 2021, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Ambassador to the Czech Republic initiated talks with low cost carrier Wizz Air over the introduction of flights between Sarajevo and Prague ahead of the opening of its base in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capital. However, the budget airline has since discontinued most of its flights to Sarajevo and relocated aircraft elsewhere.
It's interesting how few ex-yu capitals have flights to Prague
ReplyDeleteTrue, I would have expected there be more demand.
DeleteActually, no ex-Yu capital city airport has flights to Prague other than BEG.
Deletewow you are right actually. Weird
DeleteTIV in the summer
Delete''Capital city''
DeleteTIV is a capital of "capital"($$$$)
DeleteRyanair would have flown ZAG-PRG if there had been demand, especially with special extra low prices they get from Zagreb airport.
ReplyDeleteBut still nothing. Zero.
So what? Would you prefer that aircraft fly empty?
DeleteWell ZAG put PRG on the subsidy list. Ryanair said they will expand from ZAG next summer so Prague might be included.
DeleteSo what? So nothing.
DeleteZAG-PRG will remain to be unserved route. Like many others from ZAG.
Can someone explain to me the status of Czech Airlines? Do they just exist as a separate brand within Smartwings? How many aircraft do they have and what is their purpose?
ReplyDeleteAs far as i know they only operate one daily flight from Prague to Paris.
DeleteCSA filed for bankruptcy in 2021 and went through restructuring. They have 2 routes - Paris and Madrid. They start Yerevan next month. Like OU, they believe they will be saved by ordering A220s. It's sad what has become of this once big airline.
DeleteThe airline is currently undergoing restructuring. In 2022 it was acquired by Prague City Air-70% (which is affiliated with Smartwings), the remaining 30% is held directly by Smartwings. But yes Smartwings is their shareholder. For its part, Smartwings also has Chinese participation. The airline recently announced that it has contracted 4 A220s to be delivered in 2024 and an additional two A320s. Thus, the airline plans to return to the market from 2024. PRG-EVN flights will start in October.
DeleteThanks for the explanation. Hope they manage to recover. Such an old brand would be sad if they disappeared.
DeleteAlso, Israeli airline Israir wants to buy Smartwings. I sincerely hope this does not happen. Israir have around 10-15 aircraft (mostly wet lease) while Smartwings is a large airline with 40 aircraft.
DeleteIsraeli capital in European carriers has almost always resulted in them going bankrupt unfortunately. So I do hope they don't buy Smartwings.
Delete+1000000
DeleteAnd then people say there is no need for a national airline. Adria flew to Prague and it definitely wasn't primarily for transfers from Macedonia and Kosovo.
ReplyDeleteCould a national airline operate without government subventions?
DeleteI doubt it.
Adria flew to Prague but yet managed to collapse. That is not a national carrier anybody needs.
DeleteYeah they collapsed because of their flights to Prague...
Delete@09:20 shallow thinking! Look at Air Serbia, as far as we all know they dont operate on 10 routes from BEG but on 90 or maybe 100! All of the routes that Adria served in 2019 except Prague, Copenhagen, Sarajevo and Tirana are restored. Yes Slovenia needs a national carrier. National carrier who will connect the country to secondary cities as well insted of depending from the transfers from SKP, PRN, TIA, SJJ, TGD.
DeleteYup, Adria only had transfer passengers onboard :o If you connect few cities and than you also have passengers travelling between those cities that's just additional revenue which is more than welcome. LJU should remain connected daily with SKP, PRN, TIA, TGD, SJJ. And don't even mention government subventions as every airlines is getting subventions, directly or indirectly.
DeleteIf OU or Ryan Air started a route to Prague then they would have the people from Slovenia flying from Zagreb also. but since they didnt re-start this route or ryan air didnt. then there probably isnt enough demand even when serving 2 countries with 1 route.
DeleteThe demand musnt be the problem for one route to be ingnored. The airlines take other factos as well before launching a route, yes Croatia can easly launch this servive but they dont care. SKP-GVA was ignired for many years before someone decided to relaunch it. W6 can launch flights to AMS as there is demand but the airport fees are high, therefore its not just the demand which is cinsidered. If Adria managed to serve PRG and OU managed it in the past, then for sure there is bigger demand now.
Delete@ 9:16
DeleteExactly.
AMS is really anti lcc. The CEO of Raynair complained that AMS makes it very difficult for lcc's to operate in the market. He said that AMS has excuses/reasons as "the airspace is full" "AMS is on it's maximum allowed flights for the government'' etc. The CEO of Raynair understand these reasons but they want that Schiphol/AMS will open Lelystad airport(part of the Schiphol group) so that they can launch flights from their. They plan to open Lelystad airport soon but only 2-13 flights a day are allowed in total. Multiple airlines showed interest but Raynair complained that they can't operate with 4 flights a day and that they want to grow to 100 flights a day.
DeleteThe CEO of Raynair also said that Schiphol should be forced to sell it's 51% stake in Eindhoven. It seems that Raynair is not satisfied with 40 destanations from EIN they want something similair as Brussel- Chaerloi where they have have over 95 destanations. But EIN is also full so it's difficult to expand.
even JU and BEG is not doing well on the route to prague. theres probably even people from ZAG and LJU transfering at BEG but they still dont seem enough to upgrade frequency or a bigger plane.
DeleteThey recently started Budapest and thats already been upgraded to 2 or 3 daily. and can even incrase it further. but prague is mostly 1 daily.
something seems strange is going on slowing the progress between the YUG and Prague.
^ Not true. Prague has been increased from 6 weekly last winter to 11 weekly this winter.
Deletethe last post on this blog September 06 about network expansion listed everyone except prague. you can count the direct flight even in november online. there is 9 weekly.
Deletestill much less than Budapest
Even 9x weekly is a pretty good frequency imo and in winter as well
DeleteOfc much less then BUD, BUD is a popular destination for the serbs and it is near by. PRG is also popular but BUD has the lead. Also, the flights to BUD have never been increased. They were scheduled to operate 16 times a week when the route was launched this year.
DeleteWe need flights from Skopje to Prague too! Pity the airport isn't look into it.
ReplyDeleteW6 would fly the route if given enough subsidies.
DeleteI am sure airport is looking into it, but I don't see any other airline to open this route than Wizz.
DeleteHasn't Wizz cut its Prague network by a lot in recent years? Although I see they are opening some routes now like London and Tirana.
DeleteThey had a base there but they closed it many years ago, since then they operate to Prague from Italy, Tirana, London and other routes, i think Varna as well?
DeleteThanks, that's right, I forgot it was a base they had.
DeleteYou are welcome.
DeleteHow come Sarajevo is third busiest unserved route from Prague but not Skopje?
ReplyDeleteIt's not. Read again:
Delete"Prague Airport has said it is pursuing flights to Zagreb, Ljubljana and Sarajevo, with the three capital cities being among the Czech capital’s top unserved destinations within Europe."
It doesn't say which is the first, second or third unserved. It just says which routes Prague airport has identified and that all three have high demand.
DeleteWhat do you mean its not? It clearly says that those three are among the busiest unserved routes. To be clear nothing wrong with that i am just confused how come SJJ which is a much smaller city and has less traffic then SKP is their priority. Or maybe they know that W6 wil launch those flights from Skp?
DeleteIt says AMONG, it does not say who is exactly where. However, I assume there is more tourist traffic from/to Sarajevo. Also there seems to have been more initiative for flights between the two of them to resume.
DeleteThey need to check the flights to Bratislava as well from where Macedonians are going to Prague :)
DeleteBratislava-Prague isn't near at all. Its over 300 kilometers.
Delete@9.09 wondering that too
Delete@09:18 yes! I am planing a tour in Bratislava and Vienna and i would like to add Prague but we dont have flights! Prague is a popular destination for the macedonians its a shame that we dont have flights to there nut we have to FDH and BRE and to forgert VXO which will finally finish and end for ever i hope.
DeleteIs it possible there is a larger Bosnian diaspora in Czechia? I don't really know how the demographics work.
Delete@9.21 is there a train service between them?
Delete@anon 09:29
DeleteYou can always fly via BEG :)
Yeah yeah i will give 150 euros for one way ticket.
Delete@9.21, 9.43, there's a train which takes about 4.5 hours.
Delete@9.34, plenty of people moved there in the last few years with some companies even targeting workers from Balkans by organizing recruitment events there. Czech Republic has the lowest unemployment rate in Europe and finding workers is always challenging.
I'm sure many would welcome the PRG - SJJ route, at least during the summer months.
Actually you can find SKP-BEG-PRG-BEG-SKP for 195 EUR for flights in October.
DeleteIn November you can have the same ticket for 146 EUR.
It just depends how many days in advance you book the ticket. Logicallly, you can't expect to fly tomorrow and pay 100 EUR both ways ticket.
"What do you mean its not? It clearly says that those three are among the busiest unserved routes. To be clear nothing wrong with that i am just confused how come SJJ which is a much smaller city and has less traffic then SKP is their priority. Or maybe they know that W6 wil launch those flights from Skp?"
DeleteSarajevo is not a much smaller city, both cities have between 500.000 and 600.000 in their wider areas and that is what is more important (catchment areas) than silly administrative divisions, particularly in Sarajevo which is divided by administration (which is not the case with Skopje).
@10.59 get over it for once
DeleteSkopje has 900k maybe 1 million if we count those who come to work here every day. The statistics are incorrect about skp. Anyway, the size of the city doesnt metter so much, what metters is the pax that the airport will atract on the route and they can be from anywhere not just from the city the airport is located in. Still idk how come they dont mention Skopje. I am sure Wizz air can fill up two weekly flights on A320 on this route. Plus i believe Dresden is closer to Prague then to Berlin. Wizz Air can also launch some destination to Poland from Skp or at least from Ohrid. I am sick of their focus on diaspora. Only half of their routes from skp are used for touristic reasons, for sure i will never fly to FDH or FKB or Vaxjo...
DeleteSkopje statistical region is home to 607.000 people, City of Skopje 526.000 and Skopje settlement 422.000 people. There is no way additional 400.000 people (to reach 900k) come daily to work, even three times larger cities do not have such influx of people on a daily basis. Nor Skopje had economy that feeds additional 400.000 people daily.
DeleteWell do i live in Skopje or you? Of course i know something more for my own city. There are many people who are living here but didnt update their adress and many students who are here ( from eveywhere ). If we had 500k then Skopje wouldnt be that big. Go and check how many appratments are sold here every year ( yes i can have 5 appartments but live in one thats true ) but still the info u have is incorrect.
Delete13:18 Brat sto zboris gluposti kakvi 900 iljadi luge vo Skopje. Vo Makedonija ima mislam 1,6 million luge. Mnogu se isseleni vo stranstvo. I od Skopje na censusot bese 600k luge. Ama toa e so selata. Vo tie 600k se brojat i sela kako Izdrizovo,Dracevo, Ljubantsi, Bojane, Radusha i site sela izmegu(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skopje#/media/File:Map_City_of_Skopje_en.svg) gledaj ja crvenata linija.
DeleteGledam deka ekonomski odime poleka napred i deka standardot stanuva povisok. Ali sme uste daleku od zapadniot standard. Problemot e deka ti sakas da odis za Praga. Ali sledna godina ti najverovatno nema da odis za Praga. Gastarbeiterite odat sekoja godina za Makedonija deka to tie e biznis brat. Ima po nekoj sto odat 5 pati godisno za Makedonija ama najcesto 2 pati godisno. Familijata vo Makedonija ke gi poseti ponekogas vo zapad, zapadni turisti ke ni dojdat vo Makedonija, nekoj Makedonec ke odi na odmor vo zapad, nekoj ke studira tamu i ti prasuvas zosto wizzair se fokusira po gastarbeiterite.
Za Praga samo Makedonski turisti sto odat tamu i nekoj od CZ sto odi za Makedonija. Lani 30000 Srbi bile vo Ceska. I toa ne se mnogu. Makedonci mislam 8000 max.
loool "how come SJJ which is a much smaller city and has less traffic then SKP is their priority", Sarajevo a much smaller city than Skopje?! Youve gotta be joking!!!
Delete@15:31 Prvo nauchi da pishuvash pa potoa komentiraj. Da, 1,6 milioni ni e celata drzhava, od niv povekje od pola se vo Skopje. Ostanatite gradovi ti se prazni! Podatocite ne se tochni posho gi ima mnogu shto tuka zhiveat a se vodat deka se vo drug grad, isto i site mladi shto se zapishuvaat tuka na faks posho drugoto ti e pishi propalo.
DeleteDali ja odel na odmor vo Praga ili ne, sramota e da nemame direktna konekcija so Cheshka koja shto sme ja imale pred 5 godini. Brojot na patnici vo skp se zgolemuva, ako togash rutata bila profitabilna, kje bide i sega. Plus, za tie nashi "makedonci" shto zhiveat vo Dresden kje im bide od korist.
Vizer ne zarabotuva samo od dijasporata, tuku i od turistichki destinacii. Letovite za Bologna se polni so nashi tyristi shto odat vo Italija, istoto i za Milano, Rim, Budimpeshta, Malta. Kopenhagen i Pariz isto se koristat i turistichki, taka shto e mnogu logichno da se ochekuva od W6 da otvori linija do Praga.
@16:11 check it by yourself.
Deleteif BUD works for SKP why not PRG
DeleteSJJ is a much bigger tourist destination than Skopje as well and has more to offer and do
DeleteSarajevo have much more tights with Prague. When B&H was part of Austro-Hungary there were thousands of Czechs working and living in Sarajevo. A main architecs were from Prague. Besides from this Sarajevo is a bigger touristic destination then Skopje.
DeleteHej people in Buzin, did you read that: "However, the airport’s business development team has singled out the Croatian capital of Zagreb as its most sought-after of the three"
ReplyDeleteWhen you're not busy polishing Misetic's boots, consider operating other routes than Frankfurt and Munich from your home base and your capital city. Do something for your own country.
+1
DeleteWell they did put them on the subsidy list at least.
DeleteYep. Not to mention that Prague is a very popular destination by the locals in Zagreb and the surrounding area as well.
DeleteIf OU doesn't start the route after this information has come out in addition to Prague already being on the subsidy list of European capitals, that'll be impossible to explain away with their usual passivity, laziness and general 'don't care' attitude. That will be outright sabotage of ZAG by simultaneous bizarre self-immolation.
Ffs...yes, Ryanair is there but common, move on already!
Instead of behaving as a bitter ex partner.
Czech Airlines flew to SKP
ReplyDeleteYep three times a week until 2017. They resumed the route in 2016 after four years and even operated flights from Skopje to Heraklion in 2016.
DeleteAs far as I remember it was seasonal? They wanted to operate PRG-ZAG-SKP one winter but they gave up on that idea
Deletelol i remember now too. Yeh when it got messy with Czech Airlines
DeleteI flew them in winter (February) 2012 from PRG to SKP. So it wasn't seasonal then.
DeleteOnce upon a time CSA used to fly to Ljubljana, Belgrade, Skopje and Zagreb.
ReplyDeleteand all with ATRs which is probably telling.
Deletedont think so. PRG-SKP was a jet. Had taken it few times connecting to Germany
DeleteThat doesnt mean that there is no demand for Skopje - Prague flights. I will be the first one to fly that route when it opens.
DeletePRG-BEG was always a jet.
DeletePRG-LJU was twice daily ATR also with early morning departure from LJU. Lots of transfer passenger since PRG with OU had great connections to the East, at one point also to the UK.
DeleteBack the , they flew also Tu-134 regularly to BEG, but tht was more than 30 years ago… I flew to London and Paris back than with Ceskoslovenske aerolinie CSA. the best thing in Paris was that Tu-134 couldn’t go on the finger as it was out of western standard, so we were parked on a remote stand just next to AF Concorde, which was more than great.
DeleteWow, did you take photos? It's one thing to see Concorde as a prop at CDG or LHR, but seeing it in operation...cool! 👍
DeleteI had been in Concord beside USS Interpid. It is horrible inside.
Deletewith year round flights to BUD and WAW plus new seasonal to RIX one can only wonder why are there no flights to PRG probably the most interesting east european destination for people from Macedonia, there is even a small diaspora there (probably using NUE as their gate)
ReplyDeleteMa daj te molam Skopje i Praga? Site patnici od skp se dijaspora, ne deka imame 4-5 letovi na den za Antalija, nikako. Nie shto sme tuka ne patuvame, samo tie od provinciite se vrakjaat.
Delete@guitardemon site? LOL
Delete18.57 so why do you hang on an aviation forum if you never fly
DeleteI am glad there is some initiative to connect these cities. Really hoping we see ZAG-PRG. ZAG is missing so many key European (or EU) cities it's crazy.
ReplyDeleteThey need flights from SKP too , I dont know why they dont put the airport on this list too .. Skopje will be more efficient then Sarajevo and Ljubljana in this case.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree.
DeletePrague is such a beautiful city. Really worth visiting. I hope these flights start.
ReplyDeleteThe sad thing is, there is no one that can start Sarajevo or Ljubljana. For Zagreb there is the possibility with Croatia Airlines and Ryanair but Croatia Airlines is intent on kind of "punishing" Zagreb's management and they moved their Prague flights to Split.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how much feed JU sees from these thee cities.
ReplyDeleteI mean to/from PRG
DeleteJU flies 9 pw from Belgrade to Prague. And nobody else from Ex Yu.
DeleteYou can imagine how many transfer they have from regional cities.
And flights will stay at 9 per week this winter, up from 6 per week last winter.
DeleteAnd they've increased ZAG if I'm not mistaken. I've been to Prague so many times and love the city. If I fly there from Zagreb next time, it'll be via BEG.
Deletewow interesting. Would not have expected this region to be on their radar.
ReplyDeleteOne of the issues with PRG is that it no longer has any transfer potential. That was a big part in making routes like ZAG and SJJ work.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteOK didnt fly to SJJ
Delete@10:19 Exactly. I remember how in 2007 I was flying BRU-PRG-BEY. Good old times (for Czech Airlines).
DeleteI'm surprised that Prague is one of the slowest recovering big airports in Europe. They have something like 25% fewer passengers than in 2019.
ReplyDeleteLoss of Russian market has had a huge impact on that.
DeleteVisitor numbers in the country have recovered fully. But it is from neighboring countries and they come by road instead of plane.
Delete11:47 absolutly not, in 2022 they had 67% of the visitors they had in 2019. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_the_Czech_Republic
DeleteI’m surprised that Skopje wasn’t mentioned, isn’t Prague in the SKP incentive plan for subsidies ? I’m definitely convinced that Wizz Air would work on that route
ReplyDeleteis there such?
Delete